Self-study
Support For every 50 dogs that contract a certain disease, one will die from it. █ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ████████ █████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████ █████████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ █████ █████████████ ██ ██ █████████ █████ ███ █ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ███
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that it’s safer for dogs to get the vaccine than to skip it. She supports this by saying that the vaccine is almost 100% effective at preventing the disease. Also, the risk of death from the vaccine is 1 in 5,000, whereas 1 in 50 dogs who get the disease die.
Notable Assumptions
For the vaccine to be more beneficial than costly, the author must assume that the disease is fairly common. While 1 in 5,000 vaccinated dogs die, and 1 in 50 dogs who get the disease die, we don’t know how many dogs will actually get the disease in the first place.
She also assumes that her argument applies to any dog, without considering how the disease or vaccine might affect different breeds or dogs differently.
She also overlooks any unaddressed costs of getting the vaccine, or any unaddressed costs or benefits of not getting it.
7.
Which one of the following █████ ██ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████
a
the total number ██ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ████████
Irrelevant— the author only addresses deaths from this particular disease and vaccination. The number of dogs that die each year from everything else is not relevant to her argument.
b
whether the vaccine ██ █████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ ████ ████
Irrelevant— the author is only discussing the effectiveness of the vaccine among dogs. How other animals might be affected by the disease or the vaccine doesn’t matter here.
c
the number of ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████
Irrelevant— like (D), the author is only concerned with the number of dogs that die each year from the particular disease in question. She doesn’t address the dangers or mortality rates of any other diseases.
d
the likelihood that █ ███ ████ ████████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ██████
Irrelevant— like (C), the author’s argument only addresses the disease in question. It doesn’t matter how likely a dog might be to contract some other kind of disease.
e
the likelihood that ██ ████████████ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████
If the likelihood of catching the disease is high, getting the vaccine may indeed be more beneficial, since the risk of death from the vaccine is much lower than from the disease. But if the likelihood is low, the added risk of vaccination might be more costly overall.